Optimizing radionuclide sequestration in anion nanotraps with record pertechnetate sorption

Qi Sun, Lin Zhu, Briana Aguila, Praveen K. Thallapally, Chao Xu, Jing Chen, Shuao Wang, David Rogers, Shengqian Ma

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

150 Scopus citations

Abstract

The elimination of specific contaminants from competitors poses a significant challenge. Rather than relying on a single direct interaction, the cooperation of multiple functionalities is an emerging strategy for adsorbents design to achieve the required affinity. Here, we describe that the interaction with the target species can be altered by modifying the local environment of the direct contact site, as demonstrated by manipulating the affinity of pyridinium-based anion nanotraps toward pertechnetate. Systematic control of the substituent effect allows the resulting anion nanotraps to combine multiple features, overcoming the long-term challenge of TcO 4 segregation under extreme conditions of super acidity and basicity, strong irradiation field, and high ionic strength. The top material exhibits the highest sorption capacity together with record-high extraction efficiencies after a single treatment from conditions relevant to the used nuclear fuel (Hanford tank wastes, 95%) and legacy nuclear wastes (Savannah River Sites, 80%) among materials reported thus far.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1646
JournalNature Communications
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

We acknowledge the US National Science Foundation (CBET-1706025) and the University of South Florida for financial support of this work.

FundersFunder number
US National Science FoundationCBET-1706025
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Engineering1706025
University of South Florida

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